MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone. I want to begin with talking about matters going on with the Congress right now, particularly the Senate.

The President, as you heard last night, applauds the House for its work to meet key national priorities. The House has moved forward to make sure that our troops have the resources they need to fight and win the war on terrorism. They moved forward to make sure that a vital law was reauthorized for preventing attacks at home -- that is the Patriot Act. They moved forward on making sure that people in the Gulf Coast region who were affected by the hurricanes are getting the help they need. They moved forward on more steps to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy. The House also moved forward on making sure that we have what we need to prepare for the threat of pandemic flu, and they also made sure that we're moving forward in a way that spends our taxpayer dollars wisely by passing the deficit reduction package.

The Senate is now finishing up its work, and we urge the Senate to move forward and complete its work on these important priorities. One piece of legislation that I mentioned, the Patriot Act, provides key tools for our law enforcement and intelligence community to disrupt plots and prevent attacks from happening. That law has helped tear down the legal and bureaucratic wall between law enforcement and intelligence officials. It has provided them the same kind of tools they use in pursuing other criminals. The Patriot Act is a vital tool that has helped us break up terror cells here in America.

And a minority of senators continue to filibuster this effort. The Democratic Leader even boasted to political supporters that Senate Democrats had "killed the Patriot Act." A minority of senators need to stop their delaying tactics and stop standing in the way of providing our law enforcement and intelligence community with the tools they need to protect us here at home. We cannot afford to be without this vital law for a single moment in the war on terrorism. It is set to expire, but the terrorist threat will not expire. And it has accomplished exactly what it was set out to do, which is to protect our liberties and save lives. And we urge the Senate to move forward and get this legislation done.

And with that, I will be glad to go to your questions. Terry Hunt.

Q Scott, the Vice President said today that Vietnam and Watergate had eroded presidential powers, and that he thinks that the world we live in demands strong, robust executive authority. Where would the President like to see his authority expanded?